US embassy cable - 05TAIPEI1079

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SMALL ANTI-AMERICAN DEMONSTRATION AT AIT-TAIPEI

Identifier: 05TAIPEI1079
Wikileaks: View 05TAIPEI1079 at Wikileaks.org
Origin: American Institute Taiwan, Taipei
Created: 2005-03-14 03:49:00
Classification: UNCLASSIFIED
Tags: ASEC TW
Redacted: This cable was not redacted by Wikileaks.
This record is a partial extract of the original cable. The full text of the original cable is not available.

UNCLAS TAIPEI 001079 
 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPARTMENT FOR DS/DSS/IP, DS/IP/EAP, DS/DSS/ITA, DS/IP/FPO, 
DS/PSP/PSD AND EAP/TC 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: ASEC, TW 
SUBJECT: SMALL ANTI-AMERICAN DEMONSTRATION AT AIT-TAIPEI 
 
REF: BACIK/MALLOY-DS/IP/EAP EMAIL DATED 11 MARCH 2005 
 
1. (U) On Friday 11 March 2005, activist ZHOU Qingjun and 
five followers from his self-proclaimed Republic of China 
Patriotic Alliance staged a brief anti-American protest 
outside the American Institute in Taiwan (AIT-Taipei) 
Consular section.  The demonstrators arrived around 1015 
hours local time, in a brown mini-van adorned with protest 
slogans that read "Taiwan Needs Peace, Not War" and "Punish 
Independence Groups".  As patriotic songs blared over a set 
of loudspeakers mounted on the roof of the mini-van, ZHOU 
gave a brief speech condemning the special arms procurement 
budget and proposed sale of arms to Taiwan by the U.S. ZHOU 
then demanded to deliver a protest letter to an AIT official, 
but was rebuffed by the police.  Not wanting to hand over the 
letter to the police first, ZHOU proceeded to defiantly burn 
the letter in the street. ZHOU and his followers then 
re-boarded their mini-van and departed the area without 
incident at 1035 hours. 
 
2. (U) The protest was not reported in either the local 
newspapers or on television, and AIT's Public Affairs section 
received no media inquiries regarding this event. 
 
3. (U) Taiwan National Police Administration (NPA) notified 
the RSO a day in advance about the possibility of ZHOU's 
protest and deployed an additional twenty uniformed officers 
in front of AIT to maintain order.  Local Guard Force 
personnel were also re-positioned to ensure that Consular 
operations were not disrupted and SDT units were put on 
alert.  No unusual incidents, arrests or injuries were 
reported. 
PAAL 

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